Conventional cooktops are quite dangerous, particularly for young children. Normally, there is nothing to prevent a child standing on a floor surface in front of a cooktop, from reaching up and over the front edge of the cooking surface, and possibly touching one of the heating units or a utensil that is being heated. Worse still, there is a risk that a child might grasp, say, a handle of a saucepan and pull the saucepan down. For adults too, there is a risk of accidentally knocking or pulling a saucepan off the cooking surface or upsetting the saucepan and spilling its contents off the cooktop.
Most counter tops are designed with the top surface of the counter top at a standard height above floor level (36" in North America). Probably as a consequence of this, most cooktops are located with the cooking surface at counter top level, even where the cooktop forms part of a stove or other cooking apparatus. While this standard height may be the optimum for a person working at a counter top, it is often inconveniently high for cooking. Accordingly, it is not an option to raise the height of the cooking surface.
Proposals have been made to provide of a cooktop with a protective "fence" which is separate from the cooktop itself. For example, a device of this type is available from Kessbebohmer of Bad Essen, Germany under the name "Child Safeguard". This device essentially comprises a wire frame that surrounds the cooking surface and that includes a "fence" formed by a horizontal series of vertically spaced bars across the front of the cooking surface. At the back of the frame, an upward wire extension of inverted U-shape lies against the wall behind the cooking surface and is retained against the wall, as some measure of protection against accidental displacement of the unit from its protective position. When the "fence" is not required, the frame can be folded up against the wall behind the cooktop.
While this product does represent an improvement as compared with a completely unprotected cooking surface, it is not an ideal solution. The protective "fence" is not a permanent fixture and, therefore, may not be in place when it is required most. Also, there is some risk that the frame could accidentally be displaced from its protective position and thereby become ineffective. Further, this prior art device does not provide any protection against spillage of hot food or other material from a cooking utensil on the cooking surface.